The present invention relates generally to protective covers for seats, and more particularly to slipcovers for chairs and sofas that include a tab for holding the slipcover in place on the chair or sofa.
A slipcover fits over a seat to protect the seat from dirt and damage and to improve its appearance. (The term "seat" refers to any piece of furniture that is designed to provide a place for a person to sit, and includes without limitation chairs, sofas, couches, love seats, lounges, etc.) A slipcover may be made to fit a seat of specific dimensions, and may include a number of fabric sheets joined to provide a custom look fit. Slipcovers may also be made in one or few sizes that fit a variety of seat sizes, and may, for example, be a single sheet of protective fabric that drapes over the seat.
Slipcovers are typically made of a pliable fabric, such as cloth of natural or synthetic fibers, plastic and the like, or a combination of fabric types that will provide some protection and desirably enhance the appearance of the seat. The type and amount of protection depend on the fabric selected.
One of the problems associated with slipcovers is that they may pull away from the seat they are covering when a person sits on the seat. Such pulling may cause the cover to fall off the seat, to gather, or to become misaligned, thereby degrading the effectiveness of the cover as well as the aesthetic appearance and comfort of the seat. For example, a person seated on the seat may slide forward in the seat and pull the slipcover forward, thereby causing the middle of the cover to become separated from the back of the seat.
One solution to this problem is to attach the top and bottom of the cover to the seat. This type of attachment may prevent the cover from falling off the seat entirely, however, it does not prevent the middle of the cover from becoming separated from the back of the seat. Further, in some custom covers it may be possible to provide permanent attachments for the sheets of fabric to each other or to the seat to reduce the tendency of the cover to pull away from the seat when a person sits on the seat. These attachments may, however, increase cost and complexity and make the cover more difficult to remove and clean.
A further solution as may be seen in FIG. 1, is to extend a portion 2 of the cover 4 between the backrest 6 and the seat cushion 8 to thereby assist in maintaining the position of the middle of the cover relative to the seat. In this arrangement, the force holding the extended portion 2 of the cover in place is limited to the pressure between the backrest 6 and the back edge of the seat cushion 8. This holding force is not normally very great and may actually decrease when a person slides forward on the seat when the force holding the cover in place should be at its peak.
The present invention recognizes that the weight of a person seated on a seat can be used to hold the cover in place and to solve the aforementioned problems. The invention provides an effective and simple solution that also does not detract from the appearance of the covered seat.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a novel cover for a seat that obviates the problems of the prior art and in which the weight of a person seated on a seat is used to hold the cover in place.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a novel cover for a seat that includes a tab that extends forwardly underneath a seat cushion to hold the cover in place.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a novel cover for a seat in which a tab holds the cover in place and in which the tab is longer than the thickness of a seat cushion.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a novel cover for a seat in which a tab holds the cover in place and in which the tab is about one-half the length of a portion of the cover that covers a seat cushion.
These and many other objects and advantages of the present invention will be readily apparent to one skilled in the art to which the invention pertains from a perusal of the claims, the appended drawings, and the following detailed description of preferred embodiments.